Bench players step up for Anthony Grant's first win as Alabama's coach

Freshman Tony Mitchell scored 23 points to lead Alabama to its first win of the season (UA photo).Anthony Grant disciplined a top scorer, possibly discovered two more on his bench and -- in the process -- picked up victory No. 1 as Alabama's head coach.

One day after Grant indefinitely suspended senior guard Anthony Brock for "a violation of team rules," newcomers Tony Mitchell and Charvez Davis stepped up tonight to lead the Crimson Tide to an 86-69 victory over Jackson State at Coleman Coliseum.

A prized signee who failed to qualify academically before last season, Mitchell scored a team-high 23 points. Junior college transfer Davis added 16 points on a 5-for-7 effort from 3-point range. The duo, neither of whom started the first two games, combined to spark Alabama (1-1), which lost Saturday's opener to Cornell.

"We're not there yet," Grant said, "but it was a good step in the right direction."

SWAC preseason favorite Jackson State (0-2) out-rebounded Alabama 42-32, received a game-high 29 points from Garrison Johnson and trailed by only five at halftime. But the Crimson Tide got rolling soon after, increasing the lead to 18 points with 12:20 remaining.

In doing so, Alabama improved on two areas Grant harped in these first few weeks: Defense and turnovers.

His team finished Tuesday night with 22 assists, the program's most since a Jan. 4, 2008 game against Chicago State. In addition to Mitchell's 10-for-14 night from the field, forward JaMychal Green scored 13 points and Mobile-area guard Mikhail Torrance entered the starting lineup to contribute 13 points with eight assists.

"I'm excited," Grant said. "When I look at the stat sheet and I see 22 assists to 10 turnovers, from an offensive standpoint, that's a good night. I thought our guys did a good job of valuing the basketball."

The Crimson Tide shot 53.6 for this game and outscored the Tigers 42-18 in the paint. Defensively, Alabama limited Jackson State to an 11-for-29 (37.9 percent) shooting clip in the second half.

"We picked up our energy some more," Mitchell said. "Everybody stayed solid on defense, and we got good looks on the offensive end."

With Mitchell and Davis leading the way, bench players scored 47 points to account for more than half of Alabama's total. That could be a recurring theme for Grant, who continues to delve deep into the roster to complete his rotation.

Other than Demetrius Jemison, who is out for the season with an Achilles injury, there figure to be no redshirts on Alabama's team this year, since Grant has already used all 11 scholarship players.

"It really doesn't matter (who's starting)," Davis said. "We just play unselfish, try to make the open pass and try to make plays out of our offense."

Alabama's first victory took some of the attention off the suspension for Brock, who started Saturday's opener and played 34 minutes, scoring 15 points and hitting three of the Crimson Tide's four 3-pointers. His punishment was announced in a vague statement by Grant moments before tipoff. It said Brock "will serve an indefinite suspension from all basketball-related activities."

Grant informed the team at Monday's practice.

"While we are disappointed in the choices that Anthony made to warrant this suspension," Grant said, "we remain committed to instilling the discipline and commitment to do what is right and in the best interest of each (of) our players and our program as a whole."

"I'm going to focus on the guys that right now are available for our team," Grant said, "and just try to coach the guys that we have and get prepared going forward."

The road gets tougher now, as Alabama's early-season home stand ends Friday night with a 7 p.m. visit from Providence of the Big East Conference. After that, the Crimson Tide will spend Thanksgiving to the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., where it will open Nov. 26 against Baylor.

"It's a challenge for us to get better and just see where our team is at," Davis said. "The more we continue to play, the more we learn. The more games we play, I think our team will be better as we go."